Nancy Rathbun Scott Nancy is a writer, editor, marketing strategist, film producer, and entreprenuer whose prolific career has encompassed work for a variety of organizations, both commercial and nonprofit. Nancy has authored five books, written weekly columns for USA Today, produced several print and online publications, and regularly pens articles for executive clients. Nancy’s company, Liberty Communications, provides editorial, public relations and marketing consultation upon request.

This headline features pretty dramatic words, especially coming from a content marketer. But it’s true: I’m sick of content marketing. Thank heavens, finally, somebody has explained why this once useful approach to sharing with current and prospective customers has become so tiresome. In mid January, Target Marketing featured a great article by Jeff Molander titled…

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On January 20, the U.S. Postal Service released five gorgeous stamps. The artistry of American stamps is nothing new, of course, but this collection reminded me of the potential value of decorative stamps in targeted direct mail campaigns. In searching for high resolution versions of the five stamps, I happened upon a wonderful website, BeyondthePerf.com….

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I’ve been a fan of “trendwatching” for a long time. For example, check out their “12 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2012” here. Of most immediate significance to marketers would be the last paragraph of the landing page. This section offers readers – and marketers – four ways to apply consumer trends. In other words, here’s…

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It’s all over the Internet, stuffed into every eNewsletter, offered up on any website that works, glowing LED at every click. It’s marketing VIDEO. By the end of 2012, we’re going to be seeing so much of it people will begin to ask [all over again] whether “this is the death of print.” Examples? How…

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Becky Graninger, a professional colleague with whom I’ve worked for years and whom I admire a great deal, recently went to work at Barton-Cotton. With a website tagline that says “momentum makes it happen,” Barton-Cotton is busy executing its “reversal of fortune.” To that end, Becky is part of a group of seasoned direct marketers…

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Crowdsourcing our own opinions and relying on others’ is all the rage: Yelp, Angie’s List, Facebook Likes — apparently, we won’t buy anything unless we consult to see if groups of strangers think it’s okay. Crowdsourcing, first name-tagged in a 2006 Wired magazine article, has infiltrated the creative arts, too. For instance, the Japanese are…

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Writing for the upcoming December issue of DMAW’s Marketing AdVents, Greg Curran made a point I’ve been thinking about for some time. Greg is the vice president, group creative director at Merkle. Among other points he made in his article “2012: The Year of The Ampersand,” Greg talked about “specialization and collaboration.” “The rapid growth…

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Luxuriate in the Fresh Air of a Wholesale Dump! Take in the Aroma of Original Content. Ahhhhh! Yes, my friends, I’m talking about the murder of “content aggregation.” It’s an early demise, I know, since aggregation just went mainstream about two years ago.. But, if I have anything to say about it, “content aggregation” is…

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Websites are the corporate/institutional face. Websites tell our story as we wish it to be told. The content, the presentation, the story, the wording — on a website all these are the creation of the creator. Blogs take a small step away, but these mini-articles still tell the corporate story, in the corporate words. The…

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NFC is the acronym for Near Field Communications. So what? Put simply, near field communications (NFC) let devices (like cell phones) that are close to one another (like 4 inches apart) exchange information (like credit card numbers). For those who find that too simple, here’s the real deal from Wikipedia: “Near field communication, or NFC,…

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Three months ago I conceived homeinvasionnews.com. The content strategy was three-fold: 1) demonstrate my ability to create content for any topic, including one with which I had no experience; 2) demonstrate the added value of content displayed in a dynamic format; 3) demonstrate the various formats in which content can be presented. I was able to take Home…

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“Get near any group of marketing professionals and you’re likely to hear a chorus of ‘mobile.’” In fact, mobile is pretty much all we think about, according to a press release announcing availability of Mobile Marketing: Plans, Trends and Measurability: What Do Marketers Think? Some 560 respondents, split between corporate management and marketing/sales management professionals, spilled…

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Amanda Moshier’s “How To Write A Blog Post in 30 Minutes or Less” hit home for me – and not because it has anything to do with writing a blog in a half hour. In addition to being organized, opinionated, and authentic, Amanda makes the point that good blogging involves dogged, persistent background work. She says, “Get outside….

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 In February, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council released results of a study that show today’s marketers struggling to innovate while keeping up with exploding technology. Dubbed Unify to Multiply Marketing Ecosystem Effectiveness* [whew; that’s a mouthful] the report shows chief marketers scrambling to centralize data, while extracting meaningful knowledge from vast volumes of transactional, behavioral, and attitudinal information. The…

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• Google News now features automatic personalization. “Last summer we redesigned Google News with new personalization features that let you tell us which subjects and sources you’d like to see more or less often. Starting today — if you’re logged in — you may also find stories based on articles you’ve clicked on before.” • Wrangler asked…

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